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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27345442">In the Hands of the Enemy</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kira_Dattei/pseuds/Kira_Dattei'>Kira_Dattei</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Old Guard Whumptober 2020 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Established Relationship, First Meetings, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, M/M, Pre-Canon, Whumptober 2020, slight whump</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 01:02:28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,525</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27345442</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kira_Dattei/pseuds/Kira_Dattei</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Yusuf and Nicolo have been alive long enough that they have escaping from capture mostly worked out. But things are always changing.</p><p>Prompt: Collars</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Andy | Andromache of Scythia/Quynh | Noriko, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Old Guard Whumptober 2020 [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1994617</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>102</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>In the Hands of the Enemy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>This was certainly one of the longest times that he and Nicolo, together or separately, had been held captive. And the most unusual part was that their secret had yet to be discovered and be motivation for them to be held longer.</p><p>Thankfully, they were at least together. Yusuf knew he would not manage to restrain himself at all if he’d been separated from Nicolo. And that would have likely led to discovering he wouldn’t die or stay injured.</p><p>“They must be exhausted with their attempts to make us follow any commands,” Yusuf noted one night of their third month of capture.</p><p>Nicolo shifted against the bars between them, their backs resting against the metal and each other as they spoke quietly. “I believe their pride became invested long ago,” Nicolo replied easily enough. “Though if they continue to deprive us of food, I fear our secret will soon be discovered.”</p><p>It had been three days since they were last given any food, obviously in an effort to weaken them in a manner that hadn’t been attempted yet.</p><p>“It is an appreciated change. I was beginning to believe we were being courted and would have hated to reveal the truth of us after such hospitality has been shown. Men such as them do not take rejection with grace.”</p><p>Nicolo’s back shook briefly with laughter.</p><p>They’d been taken while delivering a wagon full of supplies to a farmland near where they’d been staying currently, the inhabitants struggling with a meager harvest and an illness taking the family patron. They had been kind to Yusuf and Nicolo in the few years they’d been there and they had been happy to do a favor for the family. The attack had been well-executed, both Yusuf and Nicolo had admitted, attacking in a manner that ensured the two wouldn’t be able to move closer to form a more effective defense. The attack had come from behind when the path was narrow, striking Yusuf over the head before he could turn enough to defend himself and he had actually been killed with the blow though they had assumed he’d been unconscious. They had overtaken Nicolo through sheer brute force, though they lost half a dozen before enough managed to join the attack and subdued him long enough to remove his weapons and shackle him. Yusuf had revived as they were being tied quite securely to horses.</p><p>That was the most violence that had been turned upon them though. Nicolo had suspected them of wishing to sell them as servants to someone who didn’t wish their workers to be marked and were likely waiting for the fight to leave the two as hopelessness claimed them.</p><p>However, Nicolo and Yusuf had learned to be patient in such times. Their captors would become careless and opportunity would present for them to regain their freedom. That they didn’t use violence and didn’t remove the two from their cages simply meant they would wait longer than usual. They would not lose hope as others before them had, not when they had much more time at their disposal than anyone holding them.</p><p>Yusuf did not appreciate the metal collar though. He had always held a deep hatred for the things and the sentiment was even deeper at seeing one around Nicolo’s neck. He could tolerate binding of wrists and ankles but collars held different meaning, a quick indicator of what those who placed them upon other people believed of their value.</p><p>“Perhaps we should feign compliance. We will make no progress as long as they refuse to take us from this place,” Yusuf said, switching to Arabic as he had already tested the captor’s lack of understanding the language where they had proven quite fluent in most languages of the surrounding towns and cities. Yusuf had actually been impressed by their varied competency in local languages. But Yusuf’s dialect of Arabic was too distant from their current location and he had noted that there had been changes in the language so that some of the words he used were strange to those now.</p><p>Over a hundred years since he’d gone to war had made more difference than expected when he and Nicolo had traveled there again to aid in the aftermath of yet another crusade, both agreeing that they did not wish to join another fight like the one that brought them together.</p><p>“You cannot even convince me that you are a compliant man. How are you to convince others?” Nicolo jested in reply and Yusuf let out an exaggerated huff of indignation.</p><p>“I am perfectly capable of compliance. That I choose not to often does not indicate lack of possibility.”</p><p>There was a dull thud some distance into where the men who held them resided and Yusuf’s shoulders tightened in surprise and preparation for them to be joined again. They were usually left alone through the night but it was possible they would attempt to deprive them of sleep as well as food. But no one entered and all was silent again so Yusuf relaxed back against the bars and Nicolo’s warmth.</p><p>He missed being able to touch Nicolo freely. That they were kept next to each other so that they could still touch some was a relief but it was different than when they were not inhibited. And they had been careful to not display their love as they didn’t want to risk it being used against each other, hoping to keep their immortality secret unless absolutely necessary.</p><p>“If you wish to make an attempt at a ruse, I will not stop you,” Nicolo declared.</p><p>“Will you promise not to ruin it as well?” Yusuf retorted even as he kept his gaze on the door. He thought he’d heard something else but couldn’t be certain. And Nicolo’s back also held some tension but he was continuing on their conversation as it was possible they were still being observed and he didn’t want to reveal they’d heard anything.</p><p>“Will you do nothing that will amuse me?”</p><p>Yusuf gave a dramatic sigh, “Alas, <em>hayati</em>, there is too much I do that you find amusement in.”</p><p>“If they do not provide us opportunity soon, we may attempt at tricking them so. Or one of us will as that would be more believable.”</p><p>There was another thud, this time much closer and louder and Yusuf sat up away from the bars, kneeling in a crouch he could easily move from and a quick glance over at Nicolo revealed he had also positioned himself to be ready to act.</p><p>A few more heavy thuds, gradually closer, and then the door leading to the room they were in swung open and one of the men who had held them stumbled into the room before collapsing down to the floor, a unique and familiar axe protruding from his back.</p><p>Yusuf stood as he saw that axe, as where he recognized it from made him doubt that he was seeing what was in front of him. He looked back to Nicolo and saw a similar expression.</p><p>They had both seen that axe countless times in their shared dreams.</p><p>And even knowing that and having believed for so many years that the women they saw while they slept were real, it was still of a great shock to see both walking through the door, blood spatter staining their clothes and skin and their gaze falling to Yusuf and Nicolo with a familiarity that made it apparent that they knew the two men as they were known.</p><p>One pulled the axe from the now dead man’s back and slung it over her shoulder before turning to speak to her companion in a language Yusuf had truly never heard before. The other woman, carrying a sword that held similarities to Yusuf’s own scimitar but with key differences that would alter how it was used, grabbed keys from the man’s belt and moved toward the cages, stopping in front of Nicolo’s first and trying a few keys to find the correct one.</p><p>She opened the door of Nicolo’s cage and then turned to do the same with Yusuf’s. When she spoke to them, it was in Latin, one of the languages Nicolo and Yusuf had in common. Yusuf wondered if the woman had simply attempted a widely used language and had been fortunate her first try.</p><p>“We must make haste. More will be coming,” she declared before turning and walking to where her companion waited at the door.</p><p>Nicolo stepped up to Yusuf’s side, his hand immediately going to Yusuf’s arm and squeezing him briefly. “We did not suspect they were this near,” he stated.</p><p>Yusuf gave a shrug. “When one has been as many places as we have, one small town looks the same as the next with the people being how we tell the difference. And what we’ve witnessed of them shows they have traveled more than us.”</p><p>“They must have seen enough difference to manage to find us,” Nicolo noted and it was a good point. “We have been here for many months in the same cages and have been in the same area for many years now.”</p><p>Both women looked over at them and Yusuf started toward them, deciding that they could discuss it later.</p><p>“We have witnessed them in many moments of their days over the past hundred years and yet they are not as I imagined. The impression of the dreams somehow aren’t enough.”</p><p>Yusuf had realized that long ago as he had drawn them through the years. No drawing he ever did had been satisfactory, Yusuf always feeling as though something was missing even as their features were correct. Seeing them now, he still couldn’t place what had been missing but he did feel as though he would be able to capture them with charcoal or paint accurately as he never could before.</p><p>They followed the women through the halls of the large building, passing many bodies and only coming against a few more that were killed by the women before they got close enough for Yusuf and Nicolo to concern themselves with.</p><p>Once they made their way outside, they all fell into step with one another as they made their way across the town to an inn. The woman with the axe paid for a room for the night and they were then left to sit in silence, Nicolo and Yusuf on one bed with the two women on the other, staring at one another.</p><p>Eventually, the woman who wore the sword rolled her eyes with a laugh and spoke, still in Latin. “I am Quynh. This is Andromache. We are happy to have finally found you. We’ve been searching for quite some time.”</p><p>Andromache gave them a shrug and Yusuf got the impression she had a generally more serious disposition. “It didn’t help that you have tended to remain in very nondescript places for most of the time since you first died.”</p><p>Nicolo and Yusuf had slowly been branching out but she wasn’t incorrect. They waited until Yusuf had a decent enough grasp on a language of an area before they moved in that direction. And they had essentially been making an ever-expanding circle for many decades with some variation as they followed jobs or news of battle they felt they could be of aid in.</p><p>Yusuf gave the two a smile and followed Quynh’s introduction with his own, “I am Yusuf Al-Kaysani. It is a pleasure to at last meet you.”</p><p>Nicolo followed, his demeanor careful as he usually was with anyone who wasn’t a merchant. “Nicolo di Genova.”</p><p>Yusuf wrapped his arm around Nicolo’s shoulders in jest. “You will forgive my companion. He takes the long road in showing kindness to people.”</p><p>The look that crossed Andromache’s expression was sly. “I would be inclined to agree. There are not many of us but none have come to this life in killing each other.”</p><p>That was proof enough that these women had experienced the same thing they had in the dreams. As Yusuf and Nicolo had never willingly shared their secret with anyone, they had not told anyone of the true details of their meeting.</p><p>If he were to be honest, Yusuf held no favor for how they had met. They may have moved to no longer stand as enemies but of ones devoted completely to one another but that he had caused Nicolo a great deal of pain as they struggled to accept their new fates and their bodies refusal of death yet caused him guilt. Nicolo could feign dismissal but Yusuf knew his love’s expressions and saw the guilt was there as well.</p><p>“Yes, well, I was not a patient enough man to wait for him to decide on kindness on his own,” Yusuf continued to tease, Nicolo letting him as it allowed them both to get an idea of these women beyond the flashes they had witnessed in their dreams.</p><p>“Patient enough to spend months in those cages,” Quynh declared. “We were close and then nothing around you changed. We happened upon your house and spoke with those who knew you.”</p><p>Yusuf allowed his arm to drop from Nicolo’s shoulders. “Opportunity always presents if you are but willing to allow it to come.”</p><p>“And if it does not?” Andromache asked and Yusuf heard the challenge. She was giving them the same observation as they were.</p><p>Yusuf smirked. “Then you create it using all at your disposal. And we have learned much.”</p><p>The woman appeared satisfied with that response and something in her posture relaxed in a manner it hadn’t yet. “We were planning on heading East once we found you. You may join us if you wish.”</p><p>Nicolo turned to Yusuf and they exchanged a series of expressions, communicating in ways they had mastered for in the time they hadn’t spoken much of a common language and then they had simply come to know one another well enough to not require words.</p><p>“We must stop at our home first,” Yusuf declared once they knew they were in agreement. “We were fortunate that we did not carry our old weapons when we were taken or we would be needing to either return for them or would need to detour to somewhere to purchase another.”</p><p>“You do not know those weapons alone, correct?” Andromache asked, sounding somewhat vexed at the possibility.</p><p>Nicolo at last spoke, “No, we have learned others as we deemed necessary for when we did not think it safe to carry our own blades. They are quite revealing of our origins.”</p><p>“Yes, they are old,” Yusuf added with a grin, the expression then softening just a bit as he continued, “Though not as old as can be. I see the age on those weapons you carry.”</p><p>Andromache gave him another satisfied expression and he felt as though he had truly passed some manner of test with her.</p><p>It was the beginning of finding something he hadn’t experienced in a very long time as Yusuf’s family had all perished even before he left for the war that brought him to face Nicolo upon battle.</p>
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